Eighty-three percent of Forecast Panelists (FP’s) in a recent study by ASHP Research and Education Foundation predict that by 2020, at least 75% of health systems will require clinicians to document specific healthcare information into discrete data fields to support data queries and analysis. Further, they report in pursuing this issue, priority should be given to diagnosis, treatment indication, and medication reconciliation information. Information from discrete data fields will give pharmacy departments opportunities to improve operations and patient care. Source: Kevin Marvin, B.S. Pharmacy, M.S., FASHP, FHIMSS, Informatics Pharmacist Consultant, Swanton, Vermont; (ch: 21) Data and Technology: Supporting Quality Improvement In: Zellmer WA, ed. Pharmacy Forecast 2016-2020: strategic planning advice for pharmacy departments in hospitals and health systems. December 2015. Bethesda, MD: ASHP Research and Education Foundation: www.ashpfoundation.org/pharmacyforecast. Data is the Future of Pharmacy “The key to the future of our profession is data, discrete data. Robustly stored, easily exchanged, [easily] displayed data. We can do so much with data,” said Samm Anderegg, PharmD, MS, BCPS, Pharmacy Manager of Oncology and Ambulatory Care Services at Georgia Regents Medical Center in Augusta, GA., in an article posted on the American Pharmacists Association website. Anderegg continues: The next step is to share discrete data across the care continuum. Clinical Document Architecture (or C-CDA) provides a common framework for the development of electronic clinical documents to capture, store, and transmit data from one institution to another. Source: https://www.pharmacist.com/pharmacy-data-exchange-next-technological-leap-health-care Storing Discrete Data Offers Clinical Possibilities There are many benefits to having discrete, sortable electronic health records, including a more complete patient medical history and comprehensive prescription history. EMRs support the future of providing even better health care and having the option to sort and review discrete data sets helps this effort. For pharmacy systems, a solid legacy data archive can be a smart step forward in securely managing historical patient medication data well into the future. A prescription medicine EMR archive offers compliance with the numerous local, state and national regulations and a single, easy to use solution for historical information. As healthcare systems streamline their go-forward systems to integrated solutions, having a single archive provides an easy, one-stop-shop access to historical pharmacy and other records which supports easy and efficient record retrieval. Do you have more questions about pharmacy data storage and other health information archiving? Contact Harmony Healthcare IT.